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Acts chapter 6 · Scripture Unscripted

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  Acts chapter 6, Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, we love you,
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  Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for another
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  day to come Worship you in spirit and truth.
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  Lord, we cry out. Maranatha, Lord, come back.
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  Father, we cry out. Lord, come back.
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  We want you. Lord, we only want you and you
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  alone. Jesus Christ, we serve you and
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  you alone. Jesus Christ, let us lay down
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  all, all the heavy weights and the chains and the cares and the
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  snares that we've been dragging along.
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  Lord, I pray against the world system, the beast system in the
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  name of Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that we can come
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  out, Father, and that we can come up to new heights with you.
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  Lord, we just want you and you alone.
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  Father, we love you. Holy Spirit, fill us today.
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  Holy Spirit, come in and teach us today.
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  Holy Spirit, you guide us. Holy Spirit, it is your, your
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  words and your thoughts. It is your mind that we are
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  after. So Lord, highlight the text.
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  Show us what it is that you want to teach us today.
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  Father, I pray for clarity today.
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  Lord, I pray for disease to leave in the name of Jesus
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  Christ. Lord, I pray against every foul
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  and unclean spirit to leave in the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Lord, I pray for cancer. Lord, I pray for diabetes to
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  leave in the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that we will have
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  righteous leaders who rise up in the landlord.
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  I pray for revival to break out. God, bring the 10 commandments
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  back into the courthouse. God, I pray for prayers to be
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  brought back into school. God, I pray that we will be
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  found. Lord, serving you, the King of
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  Kings and the Lord of Lords, let us be the judeo-christian
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  nation. God that you have called us
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  into. Lord, I pray against the schemes
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  of the enemy. God bind the enemy from off of
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  this nation, bind the enemy from off of our families, bind the
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  enemy from off of the school age children.
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  God, bind the enemy from off of all of the cultic practices that
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  are found in this landlord. I pray in the name of Jesus for
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  those to finish strong. God, who are called by your
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  name, Lord, and who are they're with us in eternity.
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  God, I pray that we will be seated with you in heavenly
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  places. God, let us let our minds be
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  renewed by the washing of the word over them today.
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  God, I pray as we open up your word, Lord, let us store it in
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  our hearts. Let us hide it in our hearts.
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  Father, I pray that we will take up our cross.
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  We'll follow you, Lord, to the ends of the earth.
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  Lord, I pray we'll be sold out, laid down lovers, God will be
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  bond servants of you, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Lord, doing whatever it is that you whisper to us in our ears,
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  God, that still small voice that is so gentle, that is so kind,
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  but it is so authoritative, God, and we listen intently for it.
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  Lord, give us our marching orders.
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  Let us charge the hill. Let us be found, Father, there
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  with you. Let us be found, Father, being
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  known by you. Let us be found, God waiting
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  patiently, filling our lamps, God trimming our Wicks.
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  Father, it is you and it is you alone that we press towards
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  Jesus Christ. We love you.
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  Be pleased by the reading of your text today.
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  Holy Spirit, show us different facets of our Lord and our God
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  and our King. We love you, and it's in Jesus
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  Christ, holy and precious name that I pray.
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  Amen. Let's start in verse one.
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  And in those days when the number of the disciples was
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  multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians
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  against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in
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  the daily ministration. So imagine that.
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  Look at how Satan he tried to come in through Ananias and
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  Sapphira. If you remember when Jesus told
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  Peter that he was praying for him because Satan had asked to
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  sift him, you can see how the enemy is trying every little
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  trick up his sleeve to steal, kill and destroy the early
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  church. And here he comes in through the
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  Hellenist who thought that it was OK to learn the ways of the
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  world, and then the Hebrews who thought that they needed to stay
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  pure. And here is this division and is
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  isn't it just like the spirit of the Antichrist to come in and to
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  try and divide and to 'cause discord amongst brethren?
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  And remember, these people no longer identify themselves with
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  the Jews. They are now Christians.
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  And so the enemy is trying to remind them of this social
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  barrier that they had created within their own culture.
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  And let's see how it goes. Two.
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  Then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and
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  said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and
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  serve tables. So here what they are saying is
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  they are called to preach the Word and to study the scriptures
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  and to devote themselves to prayer.
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  And the administration. And the outpouring of all of the
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  material things that were being brought to the disciples needed
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  to be administered unto the masses that were coming in
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  droves to follow the apostles and to give their lives over to
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  the cause of the early church and to surrender to the will of
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  the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're saying that it is
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  not the most profitable thing for them to give up what they
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  have been called into, to do this administering of all of the
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  resources that were being given over to the early church. 3
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  Wherefore, brethren, look you out among you, 7 men of honest
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  report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint
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  over this business. So perhaps one for every day of
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  the week. They said, Search amongst
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  yourselves and find 7 men of good report who love the Lord
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  Jesus Christ and are full of the Holy Ghost.
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  For but we will give ourselves continuously to prayer and to
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  the ministry of the Word. Praise God that they were wise
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  enough to understand the power in searching the scriptures and
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  giving themselves over to prayer.
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  Look at how they are modelling their lives after their Lord
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  Jesus Christ. And this is where we would find
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  deacons, and this is where we would find those in the church
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  who are called into the office, who are called into being, those
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  who steward the resources that are entrusted to God.
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  When you give, you don't give to the church, you give to God.
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  Don't ever forget that what the church does with those resources
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  is between them and God. They will have to answer for how
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  those funds are appropriated or misappropriated.
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  And it is by doing exactly what the apostles said that they were
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  set to do is how we know how to distribute all of the things and
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  to tell the deacons and to tell the administration how to do
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  their jobs and what faculties we need and what ministries are
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  needed. So these apostles understood
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  that it was by searching the Word of God and by prayer that
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  God is pleased to reveal the unrevealed will of God.
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  So if you want to know the unrevealed will of God, you must
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  first start searching and obeying the revealed will which
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  is contained in your hands. The 66 books from Genesis to
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  Revelation, Nothing added and nothing subtracted.
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  They understood that, and it was wisdom from on high to
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  understand that. Five, in this saying, pleased
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  the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man
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  full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Procris
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  Neichner, and Timon Permanus Nicholas, the proselyte of
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  Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles.
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  And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
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  So here they are instituting them, Here they are laying their
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  hands and giving them their approval to do the work of the
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  Lord. Seven in the word of God
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  increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in
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  Jerusalem greatly been a great company of the priests were
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  obedient to the faith. So what you're going to find is
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  most of those names that were mentioned were all Greek names.
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  And you can see how the Holy Ghost knew that there needed to
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  be men who were sensitive to the Hellenist to be able to make
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  sure that all of the needs were met.
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  And it's just like the Holy Ghost to show us if we will
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  trust in Him and wait on Him, He will always lead us in the right
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  path. It is whenever we try to outpace
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  and outstep God, when we're not willing to wait, when we become
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  impatient and we ask God to Co sign on our own actions, is when
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  we find ourselves in perpetual frustration, friends, and we
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  have to confess and repent that we've done that to receive the
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  Holy Spirit and quit searing our conscience and quit grieving the
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  Spirit and quit trying to misrepresent the Lord.
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  Quit trying to manufacture our own destinations.
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  We need to sit and wait on God and wait for him to tell us what
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  to do. And if it takes an hour or if it
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  takes a day, if it takes a month, if it takes a year, we
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  need to still be found waiting. And the greatest work that God
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  does is in the waiting. So we should not out pace and
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  outstep God and try to get Him to cosign on our own needs and
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  wants. There are so many men and women
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  right now who don't understand why everything is awry and why
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  everything is upended. And they refuse to come to Him
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  honestly and refuse to confess and repent that they did things
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  in their own power and in their own understanding.
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  And that is why they find themselves in the state that
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  they're in. And these apostles understood
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  that they needed to seek God's counsel and to wait on him.
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  A and Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and
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  miracles among the people. So this would have been just an
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  extension of the Lord's ministry.
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  That is what you're going to find with all the apostles and
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  the disciples in the early church is there was no new thing
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  that came about. It was just an extension of what
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  the Lord Jesus Christ modeled for them. 9 Then there arose
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  certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the
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  Libertines and the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and of them of
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  Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
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  So here we're going to see that here comes envy again, here
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  comes the enemy again, here comes Satan again trying to
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  destroy the witness of the early church.
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  Let's see how it goes. 10 They were not able to resist the
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  wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke, because he
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  authentically, authoritatively spoke for God himself through
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  the Holy Spirit that was given to him.
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  He was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. 11 Then they suborned
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  men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words
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  against Moses and against God. 12 And they stirred up the
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  people and the elders and the scribes, and came upon him and
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  caught him, and brought him to the council.
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  Here is a picture of persecution in the most simple form.
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  Here he is just speaking the truth.
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  Then they are envious and they realize that there that he is
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  speaking against their evil ways and because of their delusional
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  selves, because they loved evil more than they loved the truth,
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  they catch him like a trap. It springs on him.
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  This is persecution in the most simple form.
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  He is wrongfully accused and wrongfully arrested for just
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  doing the right thing. And that is demonic and satanic
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  at its core. Never forget that. 13 And set up
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  false witnesses, and said, This man ceases not to speak
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  blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.
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  Woe unto you who call evil good, and who call good evil. 14 For
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  we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy
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  this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered
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  us. What Stephen has told them is
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  that Jesus is doing a new thing, God is doing a new thing, that
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  there is no power in the temple, there's no power in the
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  geographical land there, that the Holy Spirit has broke out
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  for the whole world. And this is a foreshadowing of
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  the Gentiles that are going to come in.
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  And the Jews could not stand to think that Yahweh would ever
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  invite the nations into their faith.
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  And that is why we see in AD 70, God destroy the temple just like
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  he did in the times of the Babylonians when he let off his
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  people into captivity. 15 and all that sat in the council,
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  looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face
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  of an Angel. So this next chapter that we're
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  about to get into, we're going to find out what Stephen has to
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  say to him. But you just need to know that
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  he's full of the Holy Ghost and God is with him, and God's about
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  to use his mouth as a megaphone to speak to this wicked,
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  adulterous, perverse nation. And he's going to show them that
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  they have turned their backs on the God that they supposedly
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  worship. God's going to use Stephen in a
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  mighty way, and we're going to find out what the effect of that
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  is next time. Until next time, stay tuned.
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  I hope you've been blessed by this chapter.
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  I know I sure have. I'm praying for you.
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  I love you. So does God this be found taking
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  the whole word to the whole world and preaching and
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  proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ to the whole world.
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  Let's not be ignorant of the Word of God and what He wants to
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  speak to us today. See you back here tomorrow.
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  God bless you.